I am going to finish Hamlet tonight. I will climb in bed when I finish this post and read the last 300 lines, giving them the attention I could not spare them in 1989 when I was assigned Hamlet in Intro to Western Lit. My eyes have passed over those lines before, but even then I knew they deserved better.
The big downside to the Crazy Shakespeare Project, in which I read 17 mostly obscure Shakespeare plays and all of his poetry between January 1, 2011 and January 7, 2012, was that I started to think maybe Shakespeare was a little...overrated. If Shakespeare had called it quits after Two Gentlemen of Verona and Troilus and Cressida, he would languish in well-deserved obscurity. Coming back to Othello and Hamlet this summer has reminded me of why he is neither obscure nor languishing. So I've been thinking: what's a better way to tackle reading Shakespeare? What's a Crazy Shakespeare Project without the crazy?
I have a ten-year plan for your consideration. It requires the reader to tackle about four plays per year, categorized here as "Something Beautiful," "Something Frothy," "Something Subpar," and "Histories." The classifications are slightly arbitrary, but the person who put clowns in Hamlet is always going to be hard to pigeonhole. There's a table down below if you prefer summary to explanation.
Year One. You start with Lear, because I can attest that Lear is a fabulous way to start a long-term Shakespeare project, and Comedy of Errors, which is Shakespeare's shortest play and one of the most fun. You read Titus Andronicus, because that way you get the very worst play out of the way. (And be consoled: it's a riveting kind of awful. An almost comical kind of awful.) You read Henry IV, Part I, which is marvelous.
Year Two. Caesar and As You Like It are the beautiful and frothy contenders this year. This year's subpar play is Merry Wives of Windsor, since you're reading about Falstaff anyway in Henry IV, Part II.
Year Three. Macbeth! Twelfth Night! The glorious Henry V! And the unfortunate Pericles, but now you have Shakespeare's two worst plays out of the way.
Year Four. For your fourth year it's a four-part history extravaganza. The tetralogy needs to be read in sequence. You don't want to be dragging it out for four years. Read an act a day for three weeks instead: Henry VI, Parts I-III, followed by the stunning Richard III.
Year Five. This year we have particularly memorable women in the beautiful and frothy categories: Antony and Cleopatra and Taming of the Shrew. This year's history play is King John, which does not deserve its obscurity; this year's subpar play is Troilus and Cressida, which (as I may have mentioned once or twice) totally does.
Year Six. Othello! The Tempest! They're so good! Timon of Athens is not, and neither is Richard II, but read them anyway.
Year Seven. Cymbeline is a less familiar choice for this year's beautiful play, but I bet you'll like it anyway. Much Ado About Nothing brings the froth. (Maybe watch the Kenneth Branagh version too.) Two Noble Kinsmen is actually not very subpar. Henry VIII is my least favorite of the history plays, but it's also the last one. Hurray for you!
Year Eight. Only three plays this year: Measure for Measure, Coriolanus, and Love's Labours Lost.
Year Nine. This year there are two beautiful and slightly wacky plays: Romeo & Juliet (I know just what to do, says the friar, make everyone think you're dead and all will be well!) and The Winter's Tale (when in doubt about how to get your characters offstage, send in a bear). This year also brings you Two Gentlemen of Verona and Merchant of Venice. I hesitate to put Merchant of Venice in the frothy category given its anti-semitic elements, so re-categorize if you prefer.
Year Ten! You're almost there! How cool is that? This year is Hamlet, the best of all Shakespeare's plays. This year is also All's Well That Ends Well, a forgettable little comedy with a most appropriate name. And this year is Midsummer Night's Dream. When you get to the end and Puck says "Give me your hands if we be friends," you can applaud not only the Bard's creative powers but also your own tenacity.
Comments and suggestions and tips to make my table formatting less hideous are all welcome. But tonight a swordfight requires my attention.
| Beautiful | Frothy | Subpar | History | |
| 1 | King Lear | Comedy of Errors | Titus Andronicus | Henry IV, Part I |
| 2 | Julius Caesar | As You Like It | Merry Wives of Windsor | Henry IV, Part II |
| 3 | Macbeth | Twelfth Night | Pericles | Henry V |
| 4 | Henry VI, Parts I-III, Richard III | |||
| 5 | Antony & Cleopatra | Taming of the Shrew | Troilus & Cressida | King John |
| 6 | Othello | The Tempest | Timon of Athens | Richard II |
| 7 | Cymbeline | Much Ado About Nothing | The Two Noble Kinsmen | Henry VIII |
| 8 | Measure for Measure | Love's Labours Lost | Coriolanus | all done with histories! |
| 9 | Romeo & Juliet, Winter's Tale | Merchant of Venice | Two Gentlemen of Verona | |
| 10 | Hamlet! | Midsummer Night's Dream! | All's Well That Ends Well! |
Recent Comments